Late run falls short for Lopes

Thursday, February 10

Phoenix, Ariz.

6 p.m.

Grand Canyon

15-7,8-3WAC

Utah Valley

10-12,5-6WAC

Utah Valley

Grand Canyon

2/10/2022 10:08:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score

GCU drops Thursday game against UVU

By: Sierra Smith

The Grand Canyon women's basketball team fell 58-50 to Utah Valley on Thursday night in its National Girls and Women in Sports game at GCU Arena.

The Lopes (15-7, 8-3) put two players score in double figures, led by freshman point guard Ja'mya Powell-Smith's career-high 15 points, three assists and two steals. Junior forward Dominique Phillips tacked on 13 points and four rebounds off the bench in only 22 minutes.

GCU forced 15 Wolverine turnovers while committing 13. The Lopes turned those takeaways into 12 points with freshman guard Kiyley Flowers leading the way with three steals.

After falling behind 2-0, graduate guard Amara Graham started GCU's scoring with a 3-pointer that sent the Lopes to an 8-0 run and 8-2 lead. Almost two minutes later, Utah Valley (10-12, 5-6 WAC) shortened the gap with a 3-pointer from the game's leading scorer, Madison Grange, but GCU still entered the quarter break with a 16-14 advantage.

A game-low four points for the Lopes in the second quarter caused the Lopes to enter the halftime break trailing 27-20.

GCU's deficit grew after halftime, sending the Lopes into the fourth quarter with a 40-31 disadvantage. The Lopes turned three offensive rebounds into five second-chance points on the way to scoring 11 in the quarter, when Powell-Smith scored six and GCU cut its turnovers to two.

Utah Valley held its largest lead of the night at the 4:52 mark of the fourth quarter, scoring eight unanswered points to lead 50-33 after consecutive Lopes turnovers.

GCU did not go down easiley, using a 9-0 run to cut the deficit to 52-47 with 1:20 to go in the game. Phillips hit two 3s within 75 seconds as part of her 11-point fourth quarter to reduced the lead to 56-50 with 19 seconds remaining. A Lopes turnover with 16 seconds remaining and a Utah Valley offensive rebound with seven seconds left sealed the win.

In honor of National Girls and Women in Sports Day on Feb. 2 and the 50th year of Title IX, the Lopes wore all pink uniforms and every GCU women's team was recognized and celebrated.